There’s nobody in Hollywood that is quite as iconic as the great William Shatner who starred as the iconic role of Captain James T. Kirk in “Star Trek.”
He’s got that unique cadence and voice that we all know; the kind of voice that’s mimicked by impressionists everywhere.
And William Shatner just shared a touching story about his “Star Trek” co-star Leonard Nimoy.
Can you believe that William Shatner is 88-years-old and is still starring in Hollywood?
Shatner’s newest History Channel series is called “The UnXplained” and it’s a show that will explore the facts behind the world’s most fascinating and inexplicable mysteries. Each episode will feature historians and people who witnessed the bizarre experience first hand.
A couple of examples will be the alleged curse “White City” of Honduras and the mysterious Coral Castle of Florida. Imagine a show that’s like a new age “Unsolved Mysteries,” and that’s what you’ll get.
He was also the star of maybe the biggest television show of all time. Maybe not ratings-wise, because it was marginal at best over the first three seasons, but it’s spawned many spinoffs and movies since it premiered in the 1960s.
Shatner’s co-star, Leonard Nimoy, was his right-hand man as Mr. Spock.
Obviously, they had a close relationship over the years until Nimoy tragically passed away in 2015.
That means they shared a lot of memories and Shatner shared one of those memories with us recently.
In promotion for his newest show, Shatner sat down with Fox News and said some candid things about his career and “Star Trek.”
The interviewer asked, “What’s one memory of Leonard Nimoy that’s been on your mind lately?”
He replied, “We had a lot of laughs. We made each other laugh a lot. From the moment we saw each other, the more on stage we were, the funnier he got. He was just incredibly amusing. He just tickled me. We did a lot of stage work together so we did a lot of spontaneous stuff together in front of the audience. And he made me laugh more than he made the audience laugh.”
The interviewer followed up with probably the most obvious question which was to ask what was the “most unusual encounter you’ve ever had with a fan?”
Shatner laughed, “Well, I can explain their weirdness. It’s “Star Trek.” Weird? Well, experiences have occurred mostly in the emotional world or the hormonal world. There have been some strange ladies and guys who wanted to interact with me that I thought maybe I won’t.”
But things took an odd turn with his humility.
The Fox News interviewer wanted to know what kept him grounded and kept him going.
He said, “The fact that I don’t think I’m a success. I’m going to make it sooner or later. But there’s a moment of truth to that answer. I don’t think of myself as a success. I’m a performer, an entertainer. It’s what I do. Why should I stop telling jokes or making you cry when I still have the strength and the intelligence to do so?”
It always seemed like maybe Shatner wasn’t grateful to the diehard Star Trek fans over the years. In fact, there’s a movie “Galaxy Quest” that’s literally about that idea, which stars Tim Allen.
When asked what was the most “gratifying aspect of participating in conventions?” He said, “Interacting with the people who come to the conventions or the panels. I’m in front of an audience and I’m walking the tight wire… you’re there alone in front of thousands of people and it’s very easy to make a total idiot out of yourself.”